Tasks you can’t see – like wiping the tops of cupboards and exterminating dust bunnies behind the fridge – are all effort and little to no reward.

But cleaning jobs you can see? So satisfying. 

Pressure cleaning would have to be up there as one of the best visible chores: you can see exactly where you’ve been and your cleaning efforts are satisfyingly contrasted against the grime you’re fighting.

To spread the joy of pressure washing, we’ve compiled a list of 11 ways you can use your pressure cleaner around the house.

1. Concrete and paved areas

This isn’t news to anyone – it’s the most common way to use a pressure washer. 

But if you haven’t experienced the sheer pleasure of pressure cleaning your driveway or patio, you really should!

The rotary nozzle (aka turbo nozzle) is your best bet for footpaths and driveways. It makes a circle of pressurised water – which does mean it can leave circular water marks on the area. 

It might take a couple of passes to remove these circular marks, but it’s worth the effort as it’ll leave your concrete sparkling. 

Try your pressure washer on outdoor concrete or paved steps while you’re at it to refresh your whole outdoor space. 

2. Windows

On the outside of your house only, obviously. Don’t try this inside, kids!

Some glass can be pretty fragile, so start with a lower pressure to begin with and see how it goes. 

Try the fan nozzle, which you should be able to tweak so it hits the sweet spot between being gentle enough not to break the glass, but strong enough to get rid of the grime. 

Depending on how your windows dry, you might end up with water spots, so you could find that you need to re-do them with window spray and good old-fashioned elbow grease. But if you’ve pressure-washed them first, it’ll remove all the spider webs, dirt and grime so you won’t have to scrub as hard. 

And if you’re wondering if a robot can really make short work of dirty windows – we reviewed the Ecovacs Winbot W1 Pro and more recently the Hobot-R3 robot window cleaner to find out.

3. House exterior

While you’re pressure washing your windows, you might feel inspired to clean the rest of your house’s exterior.

A pressure cleaner is just the tool for the job: it’ll take care of dust, cobwebs, mould, algae and mildew. (Don’t forget the garage door while you’re out there!)

Brick will generally stand up well to a high-pressure cleaning, but you’ll need to be a little more cautious with painted weatherboard. Start with a lower pressure, especially if you’re working with older paint. 

However, if you’re planning to repaint your house, a pressure washer can be a quick way to strip the paint – it’ll save you hours of scraping. Just make sure that you’re not dealing with lead paint as pressure washing it can release lead particles into the air.

4. Fencing

Cleaning your front fence is a quick and easy way to spruce up your house – if the fence is sparkling, it’ll lift the look of your place. 

Pressure cleaning works especially well for metal fences, such as the Colourbond brand, but can also work on timber fences as long as you don’t blast them too hard. Again, start with a lower pressure and increase it if the fence can withstand the pressure. 

If you’re planning to repaint your white picket fence, you can use your machine on a higher setting to blast away the surface paint, which will reduce the amount of sanding you have to do. Just make sure it’s not lead-based paint, as mentioned above.

5. Outdoor furniture, shade sails, umbrellas

Outdoor furniture is designed to withstand the elements, but even its tough exterior could use a little TLC from time to time. 

Pressure cleaning your outdoor setting will take care of algae, mould, dust, dirt and droppings, giving your entertaining space a makeover. 

The same goes for outdoor umbrellas and shade sails: you can spruce up the look of your outdoor space by giving them a good clean with a pressure washer. 

6. BBQs

You know how some people justify the crud on their BBQ grills as ‘extra flavour’? Yeah, that’s really just gunk. 

To get rid of it, you can use – you guessed it – your pressure washer.

Remove the burners and disconnect the gas first, and be careful of the inlets as you clean. Let everything dry out completely then re-season the hotplates before you use it again. 

7. Kids’ play equipment

Kids will inevitably lose interest in outdoor equipment, no matter how much you spend on it. You can renew their enthusiasm by giving it a refresh with your pressure washer. 

And if they’re still not interested, well, you’ve now got clean equipment that’ll be easier to sell.

You can also turn your pressure washer on trampolines, especially the vinyl sections that cover the springs. A clean trampoline is more likely to appeal to your kids than one that’s covered in cobwebs and algae. 

8. Garbage bins

Cleaning out your Sulo bin might seem a little OTT, but hear us out. 

If you misread the calendar and put the Christmas prawn heads out too early, you’ll be regretting it for months to come. And even if you’re fastidious with your garbage bin, it’ll still develop an unpleasant odour after several years’ service, especially now that many councils collect food waste as well.

Now, if you were to clean your bin by hand, you’d pretty much have to climb into it to reach the bottom. Even the most putrid of bin smells couldn’t induce most of us to do that. 

But using your pressure washer means you can stay well outside the bin, and you won’t have to scrub off any stuck-on gunk. Simple. 

Warning: you’re likely to still get splashback using this method, so don’t do this in your Sunday best, or near anything that you don’t want covered in bin juice.

9. Wooden decks

Timber decking has a tendency to grow moss and become discoloured from being out in the weather. 

Pressure washing it will bring it up beautifully so you can enjoy your deck again. 

Just be aware that if you use too much pressure, it can strip the paint or stain from the boards – which is good to know if you’re planning to re-stain it once you’ve cleaned it, but not good if you’re just wanting to tidy it up. 

10. Cars, motorbikes, mountain bikes, trailers

If it’s got mud on it, you can pressure wash it. (Well, within reason.) 

Instead of spending a fortune having someone else clean your vehicle, get your pressure washer on the job. 

For cars especially, though, don’t use a high-pressure setting on the body as it can damage it. But it’ll work wonders on muddy wheels and tyres. 

11. Plant pots

Are your plant pots looking a little tired? While some of us might like a bit of an algae patina on our terracotta pots, it’s not everyone’s cup (or rather pot) of tea. 

You can give pots a new lease of life by cleaning them with your pressure washer – and it’s cheaper than buying new ones. 

ÌÇÐÄVlog writer Margaret Rafferty swears by this: “I buy second hand pots cheaply and then tidy them up by giving them a good clean with a pressure washer. They come up beautifully!”

Just make sure you don’t hit the plant with the pressure washer spray – it’ll damage or kill even the most hardy plant. 

You can also use this method to freshen up secondhand garden tiles and pavers. It’s a great way to save money and it’s more sustainable too, since you’re buying something that might otherwise go to landfill.

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On this page:

• Our expert tester
• How we choose what to test
• How we test leaf blowers and blower vacs
• Test criteria explained

But how do you know which model will do the best job? That’s what our reviews are for – and here’s how we get our results.

Our expert tester

Our tester, James Thomson, knows how to find out which blowers are worth buying and which are just blowing hot air. When testing performance and ease of use, he uses the leaf blowers in a real-life situation to see how they compare when it comes to clearing leaves and twigs from lawns and, in the case of blower vacs, vacuuming up the pile.

How we choose what to test

Leaf blowers come in electric, petrol and battery-powered cordless varieties, while some also have a vacuum function. Our leaf blower reviews include electric and cordless models, and some with a vacuum function. Petrol models continue to be available, but the latest offerings are of the battery-powered cordless variety – increases in battery capacity and power allow these devices to perform stronger for longer. 

Our product researchers survey manufacturers to find out what the latest models are, as well as specifications. We try to include a range of brands and models found in both mainstream and specialist hardware stores.

Once a list featuring a range of brands and price points is chosen, our buyers then go through the arduous process of ordering the leaf blowers and blower vacs just as a regular consumer would, to ensure we’re not getting special treatment.

How we test leaf blowers and blower vacs

Performance

For the blowing test, we spread a set amount of dry leaves and twigs onto a marked-out grassed area to replicate a home lawn environment. 

Our tester times how long it takes for each blower to blow all the leaves out of the marked area. He penalises the battery-powered models that run out of power before completing the job. 

To test the performance of the blower vacs with a vacuuming function, James times how long it takes to convert from blower to vacuum mode and suck up a 1kg pile of leaves and twigs. He then repeats the test with a 2kg pile of leaves. 

The best scoring models can blow or vacuum the area fastest and leave the fewest leaves and twigs behind.

James also measures the noise produced by each blower and we publish the highest noise level in our blower vac reviews.

Ease of use

James looks at how easy it is to manoeuvre the leaf blower, taking into account the absence or presence of a power cord and the weight of the blower, as well as what it’s like to use the leaf blower, including how easily the machine becomes blocked, intensity of vibrations, trigger comfort and ease of switching between modes for blower vacs.

Test criteria explained

The ÌÇÐÄVlog Expert Rating, our overall score that determines which products we recommend, is made up of:

• blowing performance (65%)
• ease of use (35%).

As not all models have a vacuum, the vacuum scores for blower vacs are not included in the ÌÇÐÄVlog Expert Rating but shown for comparison with other blower vac models.

The post How we test leaf blowers and blower vacs appeared first on ÌÇÐÄVlog.

On this page:

• Our expert testers
• How we choose what to test
• How we test pressure cleaners
• Test criteria explained

Our expert testers

Our experts know to look beyond the marketing hype when reviewing pressure cleaners. When assessing performance and ease of use, they use the pressure cleaners in a real-life setting to see how the models compare when it comes to cleaning dirt and stains that have built up over time.

How we choose what to test

Pressure cleaners come in electric, battery, and petrol varieties. For our review, we concentrate on electric and battery models which are more commonly found in the home.

Our product researchers survey manufacturers to find out what the latest models are, as well as specifications such as pressure levels and flow rates. We try to include a range of brands and models that you’d find in both mainstream and specialist hardware stores like Bunnings, Mitre 10 and Supercheap Auto.

How we test pressure cleaners

Cleaning performance

Tests from 2021 onwards have been conducted on a stained concrete path. This is a tough test allowing our experts to rate how well the pressure cleaners clean the path. They use each cleaning nozzle supplied and time how long it takes to clean with each one.

They use the fastest time as the basis of the cleaning performance score. They also measure the noise produced by each nozzle and we publish the highest noise level so you can know what to expect.

We only test using water to provide directly comparable results. This means we don’t test the performance of water mixed with detergent in models that include a detergent bottle.

Previous tests conducted prior to 2021 were conducted on a stained sandstone path.

Ease of use

Our experts look at the following to assess how easy the pressure cleaner is to use.

• Ease of manoeuvring the pressure cleaner: We consider the length of the hose, the weight of the cleaner and how easy it is to wheel the unit around. If the unit doesn’t have wheels, we assess how easy it is to carry the unit around.
• Ease of using the pressure cleaner: We check the length of the handle/lance, vibrations and trigger comfort.

Test scores

We test a batch of pressure cleaners from year to year in real-life scenarios. Because there may be differences in the test conditions, results from each year cannot be directly compared. This is why we include the year tested in our product comparison table.

Manufacturer specifications

When we publish the claimed figures for water consumption per hour and operating pressure (in psi and bar), we state the ‘working’ figures not the ‘maximum’ figures. These figures can also be referred to as ‘rated’ or ‘nominal’.

Test criteria explained

The ÌÇÐÄVlog Expert Rating (or overall score) is made up of:

• cleaning performance (60%)
• ease of use (40%).

Ease of use is comprised of ease of manoeuvring the unit and ease of using the cleaner (weighted equally). We also take note of any stability or usage issues which may affect how easy the cleaner is to use.

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